Meat clamp



Nvvl, 1927. Y

E. G. sTREcKFUss MEAT CLAMP Filed sept. 20, 1926 s sheets-sheet 1 YNoil, 1.927.

E. G. sTREcKFUss MEAT CLAMP Filed sept. 2o, 1'9'26 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I NVEN TOR.

A TTORNEYS Nova l, j E. G. STRECKFUSS MEAT CLAMPl Filed Sept. 20, 1926 3Sligjzs-Sheet 3 @ma 9 INVENTQR.

BY I @lau )4 TTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 1, 1927.

Lenen UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

ELMER G, STRECKFSS, F CNC 'l'AT, OHIO, ASSGNOR 'lO THE CNCNNATI TlVERECORDER COMPANY, OF CINCINTT, (EH10, A CORPORATON OF OHIO.

Maar CLAMP.V

Application led September 20, 1926. Serial No. 136,686.

My invention relates to meat clamps such as are employed in meat slicerstor advancing the meat toa cutting knife. Such meat clamps either moveonly in a sericsor short steps to adjust the thickness of slice to bemade by a swinging knife, or else move lootn in the short steps and in adirection at right angles thereto, together with a table that carriesthe meat to and fro across a cutting 1o blade held in on a fixed center.

My invention applies to either style ot machine, and deals speciiicallyyvith the problem of holding a long piece ot meat in position, lirst bya supplementary clamp, and

i5 then by a main clamp aiterthe supplementary clamp has been moved outot' engaging position, and out ot a position ot interference with theycutting operation.

In this connection I provide for safety dcvices by means of which thesupplementary knife Will be positively thrown out of the Way betere itcan move into the path ot the cutting blade, and l provide for a simplepreferred structure, ivvhereby the supplemen- 5 tary clamp arm iscarriedgon the main clamp bar, and can be very easily swung intoclamping position or tripped from clamping position, both manually andautomatically.'

l accomplish my objects by that certain construction and arrangement otparts -to be hereinafter more specifically pointed out and claimed.

Figure l is a top plan View of the device.

Figure vlu is a plan 'View ot the latch mechanism in engagement with thereleasing pin. f

Figure 2 is a detail plan View showing the cutting knife and shearingedge with relation to the supplementary clamp.

Figure 3 is a detail plan of the latch for holding up' the clamp. Y

Figure t is a detail section taken through the clamp, showing thelatching thereof.

Figure 5 is a front elevation of the device.

Figure 6 is a detail side elevation of the knife.

Figure 9 is a cross section of machine of Figure 8. Y i I have not showna meat slicing machine in detail, but merely thev posts l, ot a movingmoat table on which the normal meat clamp bar is to be arranged andgenerally the operating' mechanism for the table. The clamp bar 2, inthe torm selected for illustration, has a socket piece 3, hingedthereto, which ridesover one of the posts, and a socket piece fi, whichrides over the other. A lined dog 5 on the one endet the bar engages theteeth of one. ot the posts,y and a spring dog 6 on the other end ot' thehar, controlled by a trip lever 7, engages the teeth on the other post.By this means the bar, which has depending' teeth 8, is raised andlowered and held in clamping position on the meat table.

The main bar, which' may he of any type or" mounting, is formed Withbosses 9 thereon, which mount a rotatable or rock shaft l0. found aboutthis shaft are the springs 1l, which rest against the main clamp bar,and 7, against the cross bar il? ot the arms ot' the supplementary bar.rlhe supplementary bar l2, has arms i3, which are fast on the rockshaft, so that by rocking down the supplementary bar, it Will move intoposition against the meat in advance ot the main bar. (Figs. 5 and 6.)

Mounted on a bracket `lt on the main meat clamp bar is a spring latch15, having a wing lrtor manual operation. The latch engages a tooth 17,'which is mounted by means of a small angle plate on the cross bar ll otthe supplementary clamp.

Thus, when the. rock shaft is permitted to operate under the impulse otthe spring, the supplementary clamp will swing to a vertical position,and the latch Will automatically engage and hold it there, Weil out ofthe Way ot the main clamp bar, and preferably behind the vertical planeintersecting gf the advancing edge of the main clamp, so as not to comeintov Contact With the cutting knife will strike it. In machines of thistype, the advance of the meat clamp supporting posts is usuallyautomatically stopped before the meat clamp itself comes to ythis dangerline.

ln order to hold the supplementary clamp down, the rock shaft l0 isprovided at one end with a ratchet faced disk 20, and a stop tooth 2l. Asocket piece 22, on the projected end of the main meat clamp bar carriesa spring pressed dog 23, that engages in the ratchet teeth. The engagingtooth ofthe dog is sloped upwardly on the down side, so that thesupplementary clamp can be swung down, and will stay in such positionuntil the spring dog is pulled back.

To accomplish this pulling back of the spring dog, it is provided with astud 2d, which extends up through the slotted top of the socket piece22. lJivoted on a screw stud 25 on the extension of the main bar, is aplate 26 through which the stud 2d extends. On a stud 27 on the plate 26is a tripping lever 28 of bell crank shape, and the plate 26 has an ear29 thereon, which the lever 28 will engage when it is swung to suitableposition. Gn the plate 26 and on the tripping lever 28, are ears whichsupport a spring 8O that holds them together.

fis so constructed, a rearward pressure on the lever 28 will cause it toengage the ear 2.9, and the lever and plate will then swing rearwardlyfrom the position shown in Figure l to the position shown in Figure la.

rllhis movement will retract the spring dog, and release the ratchet,whereupon the rock shaft will swing to a position of lifting the clampbar to a position such as is shown in Figure e.

rIhis movement can be made to operate automatically by the use of a studlocated in feed position on the meat slicing machine such asis indicatedat 3l in Figures l and la. As the clamp device moves forwardly, the studwillcontact with the lever 28, before the supplementary clanip gets to aposition of interfering with the cutting knife. rEhe plate 26 will beswung rearwardly far enough to clear the spring dog, and thesupplementary clamp will swing out of the way.

The stud will pass the end of the lever 28, due to the fact that theplate 26 will spring far enough out of the way to permit this, and onthe return movement of the meat clamp for another operation, the lever28 will swing over, extending the spring 30, without offering anyinterference to the retractil-e motion of the table. It is because ofthe requirement for this rearward motion that the part 28 is used, asotherwise the plate 26 and part 28 could be made of one piece.

My device will be very useful in cutting long pieces of meat, since theclamp bar will be set down well behind the front edge of the piece, andthe supplementary clamp then released and swung down to clampingposition, being held there by the ratchet and dog device. The operatorneed pay no more attention to the supplementary clamp, since it willswing out of the way when the main clamp has advanced far enough to holdthe meat firmly along a line close enough to the cutting edge to preventimproper slicing. v

ln machines which operate by power in packing houses, for slicing bacon,mydevice has a particular application, since it saves a resetting of themachine, loss of imperfect slices following imperfect setting, andrequirement for extra labor to accomplish the resetting of a largenumber of machines, such as the packers employ.

it will be understood that l have shown but one illustrative embodimentof my invention, the novelty in which invention will be set forth in theclaims.

lo show a machine to which my device is attacher, l have selected inFigures 8 and 9, a machine which has been in the past manufactured byme. iin this machine the casing of the machine is shown at 60, and theknife blade at 6l, same being swung and revolved through the medium ofan arm and f' lvl'v'yithin the casino` are a pair of pz i UO. trallelrods 6d, on which slides a frame 65. "his frame carries a nut 66, whichis brought into Contact with a screw 6T, whereby said screw serves tofeed the frame along.

'lhe frame extends out through a space along each side of the top ofthe' casing, as at 68, and upon the said projections 68, is mounted themeat plate 69, so that said meat plate feeds along with the framebeneath it. 'Ehe two posts l, l, ot the clamp of my invention are shownas mounted on the projections 69.

rlhe stop for the operation of the auxiliary clamp arm trip, hereto-forereferred to as 3l, is shown as mounted in the casing in a position topass up through sufiicient space to engage the trip throughout thenormally expected adjustments of the main meat clamp.

`Naturally in some other type of meat slicer, the trip pin would bemounted in' a similar way, so as to engage the tripwhen the clamp hadapproached to within the given distance of the knife. ln the Van Berkeltype of machines the pin would have to be on the frame which travels toand fro, rather than on the meat plate which travels transverse of thetravel of the frame.

Having thus described my invention what l claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is l. In a meat clamp, the combination with amain clamping` element, of a supplementary clamping element arranged to.engage the meat ahead of the main clamping elefi a main clampingelement, of a supplementary clamping element mounted movably thereon,and arranged when moved to en gage the meat ahead of the main clampingelement, and so mounted as to swing to a position substantially behindthe vertical plane ot the advancing edge ot the main clamping element.

a. En a meat clamp, the combination With a main clamping element, of asupplementary clamping element mounted movably thereon, and arrangedwhen moved to engage the meat ahead of the main clamping element, andmeans for automatically moving said supplementary clamping element to aposition out of engagement Wit-h the meat.

5. in a meat clamp, the combination With a main clamping element, ot asupplementary clamping element mounted movably thereon, and arrangedWhen moved to engage the meat ahead of the main clamping element, andmeansfor automatically moving said supplementary clamping elementto aposition out oi:I engagement With the meat, and behind the verticalplane of the advancing edge of the main clamping element.

6. ln a meat clamp, a clamp bar arranged to be lowered into clampingengagement with a piece of meat, arms pivoted on the main clamp bar andcarrying a` supplementary meat clamp, means for holding saidsupplementary meat clamp in engagement With the meat, and means forreleasing said supplementary meat clamp.

7. In a meat clamp, a clamp bar arranged to be lowered into clampingengagement with a piece of meat, arms pivoted on the main clamp bar andcarrying a suppleL mentary meat clamp, means for holding saidsupplementary meat clamp in engagement With the meat, and means forreleasing said supplementary meat clamp automatically to move to aposition behind the advancing edge of the clamp bar.

8. In. a meat clamp, a clamp bar, a rock shaft carried thereby, asupplementary meat clamp arranged on said shattso as to engage the meatahead of the main clamp, a ratchet device to hold the rock shaft inposition of retaining the supplementary clamp in engagement with themeat, and spring means Ior moving the rock shaft to position ofelevating the supplementary clamp.

9. In a meat clamp, a clamp bar, a rock shaft carried thereby, asupplementary meat clamp arranged on said shaft so as to engage the meatahead ot the main clamp, a ratchet device to hold t-he rock shaft inposition of retaining the supplementary clamp in engagement with themeat7 and spring means for moving the rock sha1-'t to position ofelevating the supplementary clamp, and automatic means for releasingsaid ratchet. l0. In a meat clamp, a clamp bar, a rock shaft carriedthereby, a supplementary meat clamp arranged on said shaft so as to engage the meat ahead of the main clamp, a ratchet device to hold the rookshaft in posi- I tion of retaining the supplementary clamp in engagementwith the meat, and spring means for moving the rock shaft to position ofelevating the supplementary clamp, and automatic means for releasingsaid ratchet, and for latching the supplementary clamp in elevatedposition.

ELMER Gr.v STRECKFUSS.

